The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, has revealed that Africa’s annual infrastructure financing gap is estimated at $64- $108 billion while charging African leaders to have a sense of collective responsibility to manage the continent’s vast natural wealth.

Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina pronounced this at an international forum on African leadership organized by African Leadership magazine.

The President of the AfDB, who presented a keynote address during the event, charged the African leaders to be strong, have a sense of collective responsibility, as well as optimally harness the abundant domestic resources and the transparent management of the continent’s vast natural wealth.

“The speed and quality of the economic recovery process from the pandemic will depend on our shared sense of collective responsibility and the financial capacity of developing countries to address immediate shocks, stabilize their economies, and invest in growing back,” he said.

According to Dr. Adesina, African leaders have to contend with the serious infrastructural challenges impeding economic growth as an annual estimate of between $64 and $108bn is required to finance the infrastructural gap.

“Moreover, tapping domestic sources of revenue will be essential to our economic recovery. Africa must grow by mobilizing domestic resources, especially by unlocking its over $1 trillion in pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and insurance funds to help close the annual infrastructure financing gap estimated at $64- $108 billion,” he intimated.

“Africa will build back faster by also harnessing and better managing the revenue streams from its abundant natural resources, including minerals, metals, biodiversity, blue economy, forest resources, agriculture, and oil and gas, to boost domestic savings,” he added.

A number of African countries have started exploring opportunities for tapping into private financing, creating and nurturing new strategic partnerships and alliances in infrastructural development and financing. This strategic shift has come about on the realization that scaling up financing from traditional sources alone would not be adequate to close the huge infrastructure gap.